Since the recent Standard bannings, there have been both a lot of new decks arising as well as some decks like Mono-Red Aggro that grew in popularity. During the initial week or two following the bans, aggressive decks like Mono-Red Aggro and Mono-White Aggro seemed to be in a dominant position. However, more and more midrange decks with Sheoldred, the Apocolypse have been popping up ever since.
With
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
out of the picture, players have largely looked towards Mono-Black Midrange as the top option. This past weekend though, the top eight of both of the Magic Online Standard Challenges featured players playing green alongside the black-based midrange cards. It certainly makes sense that adding a color could help add some additional powerful options, but is it worth it? What does the deck gain over its mono-black counterparts?
The Mono-Black Core
At the center of almost every midrange deck in Standard lies four Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. This card is incredibly strong and can run away with the game on its own at only four mana. Of course, this means that it’s wise to run answers to opposing copies of Sheoldred, which is why this deck comes packed with four copies of
Go for the Throat
Go for the Throat
Destroy target nonartifact creature.
. Go for the Throat and
Cut Down
Cut Down
Destroy target creature with total power and toughness 5 or less.
headline the removal package for midrange decks in Standard due to their efficiency.
Another elite midrange threat for black is
Graveyard Trespasser
Graveyard Trespasser
Ward—Discard a card.
Whenever this creature enters or attacks, exile up to one target card from a graveyard. If a creature card was exiled this way, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
, which makes it into this list as well. In order to make room for green, however, a few Mono-Black Midrange staples did not make the cut. Most notably, this includes
Phyrexian Fleshgorger
Phyrexian Fleshgorger
Prototype {1}{B}{B} — 3/3 (You may cast this spell with different mana cost, color, and size. It keeps its abilities and types.)
Menace, lifelink
Ward—Pay life equal to this creature's power.
, which is a solid card against aggressive decks as a Lifelinking threat. It also dodges Go for the Throat and Cut Down as well as
Destroy Evil
Destroy Evil
Choose one —
• Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
• Destroy target enchantment.
, making it surprisingly difficult to deal with in this Standard environment. The deck also cut
Liliana of the Veil
Liliana of the Veil
+1: Each player discards a card.
−2: Target player sacrifices a creature.
−6: Separate all permanents target player controls into two piles. That player sacrifices all permanents in the pile of their choice.
, which was quite strong at whittling down the opponent’s overall resources. These cards would instead be replaced by some unique green Creatures that pack a punch.
Read More: LOTR Cards Break Potentially Problematic Archetype
The Green Additions
With Phyrexian Fleshgorger and Liliana out of the picture, there’s more room to run additional three-drops. Perhaps the best addition this deck gets at this slot is Glissa Sunslayer, a cheap card that really had no home during the dominance of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Glissa is a super powerful card that is difficult to deal with without removal. As a Creature with First Strike and Deathtouch, this card dominates combat, killing anything in its path. This incentivizes the opponent to not block it, but that lets you generate card advantage either directly or indirectly by removing Enchantments or various counters on your opponent’s permanents, including Planeswalkers.
The other big addition to the maindeck that this deck makes good use of is
Deeproot Wayfinder
Deeproot Wayfinder
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player or battle, surveil 1, then you may return a land card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped. (To surveil 1, look at the top card of your library. You may put that card into your graveyard.)
, another strong card that struggled to find a home. Deeproot Wayfinder is a solid two-drop that can ramp you as long as you have Lands in your graveyard and can connect in combat. While the card does let you Surveil one to try to find a land to put into play, the card works best with some additional support. It works especially well with
Riveteer’s Overlook
Riveteer’s Overlook
When this land enters, sacrifice it. When you do, search your library for a basic Swamp, Mountain, or Forest card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle and you gain 1 life.
, which is a Land that can be played turn one, but instead of adding mana, gets sacrificed and lets you search for a Land tapped. Without Fetchlands or anything of the sort legal in Standard, this appears to be the best option. Still, it provides decent fixing and some nice synergy with Deeproot Wayfinder.
Read More: MTG Bulk Rare Wins 400+ Person Event on a Budget!
Green Sideboard Cards
So far, most of the green cards that have been utilized are simply potential minor upgrades over the midrange threats available for black only. What the addition of green helps with the most is the ability to answer problematic permanents that black historically has a problem with. Mono-Black Midrange struggles against decks like Selesnya Enchantments, because the deck is simply incapable of removing opposing Enchantments. By adding green, you get access to cards like
Tranquil Frillback
Tranquil Frillback
When this creature enters, you may pay {G} up to three times. When you pay this cost one or more times, choose up to that many —
• Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
• Exile target player's graveyard.
• You gain 4 life.
and
Fade from History
Fade from History
Each player who controls an artifact or enchantment creates a 2/2 green Bear creature token. Then destroy all artifacts and enchantments.
that can cleanly deal with opposing Artifacts and Enchantments.
Tranquil Frillback especially is a cool addition because it’s a threat on its own but allows you to sink mana into it to destroy multiple Artifacts and Enchantments. Even outside of the Selesnya Enchantments matchup, being able to snag
Leyline Binding
Leyline Binding
Flash
Domain — This spell costs {1} less to cast for each basic land type among lands you control.
When this enchantment enters, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until this enchantment leaves the battlefield.
from Five-Color Ramp decks or
Wedding Announcement
Wedding Announcement
At the beginning of your end step, put an invitation counter on this enchantment. If you attacked with two or more creatures this turn, draw a card. Otherwise, create a 1/1 white Human creature token. Then if this enchantment has three or more invitation counters on it, transform it.
out of white-based aggressive and midrange decks is a big bonus. Of course, the addition of green does not come free, and it’s worth considering whether these additions are worth potential consistency issues.
Read More: Nostalgic MTG Archetype Returns Thanks to Broken Combo!
Mana Support
The biggest cost to adding green, unsurprisingly, lies with the manabase. This deck has some tough mana requirements. For example, being able to cast Cut Down turn one and Deeproot Wayfinder turn two is easier said than done. A lot of the mana fixing available for the deck, like Riveteer’s Overlook and Deathcap Glade, do not enable you to cast Cut Down turn one. The deck still plays almost a dozen basic Lands, but that means that drawing a hand of only one color and having to mulligan will happen more than you might expect.
The biggest issue the deck has still lies with playing cards on curve. Deathcap Glade especially is great fixing, but simply does not enable early plays on curve. Mono-Black Midrange, by comparison, never has this issue. Mono-Black Midrange also has the luxury of running extra utility lands like Mishra’s Foundry that are great against decks like Esper Control that are on the rise. This begs the question: is playing green worth it?
This appears to be dependent on the metagame. In my opinion, the difference between running cards like Deeproot Wayfinder or staying with
Tenacious Underdog
Tenacious Underdog
Blitz—{2}{B}{B}, Pay 2 life. (If you cast this spell for its blitz cost, it gains haste and "When this creature dies, draw a card." Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step.)
You may cast this card from your graveyard using its blitz ability.
is relatively minor. However, the ability to answer problematic Artifacts and Enchantments is a huge boon for this type of deck and can be important in a variety of situations. As the meta continues to evolve, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on this deck and what green brings to the table.
Read More: MTG LOTR EDH and Constructed All-Star Triples In Price!